| Chinese antique furniture collection: market warming up |
| Wednesday,April 02,2008 Posted: 14:35 BJT(0635 GMT) CE.cn |
By Chu Zhiying & Huang Saihua Among the immense Chinese historical and cultural treasures, antique furniture is a special flower. With the development of social economy, the original practical function of antique furniture is getting unimportant, while the cultural relic characteristic is getting more and more notable, and they have become the object that many collectors chase after. However, when antique furniture becomes art collection and fashion consumable, how should we collect antique furniture? How should we understand the collection value of antique furniture? How big is the appreciation space? Such problems are getting more and more attention. In recent years, both the folk collection market and the auction market of antique furniture have been steadily growing. Among the major curio markets in Beijing, stores dealing in antique furniture can be seen here and there, and have large shop fronts. However, people who are always hanging around the curio market say that it's hard to find a collection that can be really called antique furniture. As practical appliance, the real antique furniture can seldom be saved in good condition. Plus, more and more buyers in recent years have boosted the development of antique furniture market. According to industry insiders, new imitated antique furniture made of redwood is appreciating at a rate of 25 percent per year. What brought the appreciation of antique furniture? On the one hand, with the increasing enhancement of people's living level, the antique furniture carrying the traditional culture meanings prevails as a symbol of life quality. On the other hand, the combination of practicability and investment value of antique furniture is an important reason why it is so popular. Not to speak of the rare high-class antique furniture made of rosewood and Huanghuali wood, the prices of old Redwood furniture made from Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China period are being doubled almost every year. Even the old cork wood furniture, to which collectors didn't pay much attention in the past, has now become a kind of key collection. Among investment areas today, the investment to antique furniture has become an investment type of comparatively low risk and high value maintenance and appreciation capacity. In auction market, antique furniture belongs to sundries. Comparing with such antique arts as calligraphy, painting and porcelain, it is in an apparently disadvantaged condition. The reasons lie in the difficulties in operation and the search of elaborate works. But as long as a piece of antique furniture is launched for auction, it will be the focus of the auction house. In the auctions of 2007, antique furniture showed several highlights. On the autumn action in Beijing Poly Theatre at the end of 2007, a pair of large rosewood square-angled four-piece wardrobes made in Qianlong period of Qing Dynasty was auctioned off at the price of RMB28 million yuan. Before this, records were made every year in antique furniture auctions. At the Chinese antique furniture auction in Chiristie's, New York in 1996, a Ming-style Huanghuali folding screen was auctioned off at a price equal to RMB10 million yuan. As to the market appreciation of antique furniture, a convictive case happened in China Jiade 2004 Autumn Auction. A large square Huanghuali table carved with dragon patterns made in Ming Dynasty and auctioned off at RMB8.8 million yuan in 1996, was auctioned off again at RMB4.29 million yuan, increasing near five times in 8 years. However, comparing with its behavior in the hot folk collection market, the antique furniture is playing a less active role in the auction sector than the calligraphy, painting art and porcelain. Regarding this, Kou Qin, Board Director and Vice President of Jiade Company, said, "It's because we didn't develop enough good things in this area, and we need to popularize more things." He believed that furniture was different from traditional auction items like China, calligraphy and painting. For collectors, paintings made by Qi Baishi and a contemporary unknown painter both have their market value, but furniture collectors only want rare varieties like those made in Ming or Qing Dynasty, or made of rosewood. "Actually, many good things are not included in the collection scope yet." It looks as if that both auction businesses and folk collectors should bear a comparatively unified understanding of collection scope and value identification of Chinese antique furniture. It seems to echo the demands of market. Not long ago, "Elegant Gathering in the Flourishing Age-2008 Chinese Antique Furniture Collection Expo & International Seminar" was held at the China Millennium Monument in Beijing. The expo gathered near 60 pieces of valuable and rare Ming-Qing furniture belonging to famous private collectors at home and abroad, and held high-level seminars, which invited many Chinese and overseas experts. Tian Jiaqing, the curator of the expo and an antique furniture expert said, "The expo directly conveyed the profound meanings and connotation of Chinese antique furniture to the audience via the exhibits." At the same time, some experts don't agree with the trend of investment-oriented collection in the society. Ye Chengyao, the owner of Hong Kong's "Gongyu Shanfang" and an antique furniture collector, believes that it's against the collection spirit to buy antique furniture with a goal of investment. Jin Bohong, the identification expert, thinks that only finding, gathering, sorting, research and spread and inheriting can be called collection. The basic meaning of collection is a kind of culture and shouldn't be equal to investment. Whatever, the presently emerging antique furniture collection fervor has an active meaning for the protection and research of antique furniture. In the long past, the value and position of antique furniture were not paid much attention to. In the 1920s~1930s, people like Liang Sicheng began to research on Chinese architecture, thus drove the research on Chinese antique furniture. People began to know the value of Chinese antique furniture gradually, and the fact common people attached great importance to collection happened only in the recent 2 or 3 decades. Comparing to the research on those traditional cultures and arts like Chinese calligraphy, painting and porcelain, the research on antique furniture is just beginning. Tian Jiaqing thinks that the research and understanding on Chinese antique furniture is of great practical meaning for our society. Hu Desheng believes that though the prices in the antique furniture market is rising steadily, the attention paid to antique furniture is far from enough comparing with the traditional artwork like Chinese calligraphy, painting and Guanyao porcelain, an the prices have a large rising space. Zhang Dexiang showed the same opinion. He said, "I can predict that the spring of Chinese antique furniture collection has arrived." |
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